Just Hold On
by K1t K4tty
Summary: A request for skaterchick36. 4 has been acting strangely lately, but when 5 decides to follow her to try and help, he finds out something he may not be ready to handle.  Rating because I'm paranoid and may change upon feedback


**Well, it's me again. This is a special request for skaterchick36, who dedicated her story (What About Now) to me. It's a big ol' thank you for the gesture. Honestly, I'm not sure how well I did, and the subject matter is something I don't think I've ever written about, so I don't think I did at all well with the portrayal. Please NO FLAMES, you don't even have to review if you don't want.  
****Disclaimer: I own nothing, 11 belongs to skaterchick36**

**Anyway, here you go skaterchick36! Hope you like it.**

Just Hold On

He had been watching her for a while now. Not in a creepy way, mind you, just watching. She was just so full of life that it made him smile, and in the world they lived in smiles were few and far between. His favorite thing to watch was her pouring over a new book, how she could get so immersed in it that nothing else in the world seemed to matter to her. He often wished he had the courage to walk up beside her during these moments and read alongside her.

But there had been very little of this activity recently. In fact, she hadn't done much of anything for, what was to him, the longest time. Worse, in fact, she seemed to lose that bright spark of life he loved so much.

If he had a true concept of the passage of time he might've said that this loss began roughly five months ago- and if he had understood the concept of irony, he would've laughed at that. He could even pin it down to a specific day.

She had been gone again. No one was quite sure where it was she went during these times, but she always came back… Different. It varied by the day, most times she came back with a skip in her step, but that day she was so listless even her brother could do nothing to dispel her mood.

From there things only went downhill. She came into the workshop more and more often, joints popped out of place, metal structure bent and dented, fabric ripped. Once even her beloved hood was torn. However, she would say nothing of how she acquired these injuries- either dancing around the questions or giving some shame faced, nearly blatant lie.

He took more notice of her then, following her around the cathedral and trying to determine what was wrong. He often found her in her room, knees pressed to her chest, as she rocked gently back and forth. There was even a day he shuddered to remember when he found her raking 7's spear blade across the exposed framework of her wrist. A couple of times he thought he saw her middle distended just a bit, but he always passed this off as a trick of the light or him only having one optic.

Then her disappearances became more and more frequent. She'd leave before the sunrise and was back as the moon reached its peak. He decided to follow her to wherever she was going, because- even though she didn't ask- he knew she needed help.

The world was still slumbering when he heard her pass by the workshop and he slid off his bad as quietly as his wooden feet would allow. In the library he had once found a book on the night sky and he had calculated that it would be a full moon, and, therefore, the best time to try and follow her. Even with the light it was difficult at best to try and keep her in sight, she was so small and quick she could dart easily between pieces of rubble and hide in the shadows. He briefly wondered if this was how she always traveled or if she knew he was following her.

Just as the sun crested the horizon, turning the world a desolate gray, they arrived at a large crevasse with an unsafe looking bridge going across it. He had seen it before, but only in 6's drawings with the artist muttering things about it being a bad place before going back to his usual murmurings about the mysterious Source. Even without the deranged artist's commentary, he found this place foreboding. More so when an unknown doll seemed to materialize out of the morning's menacing mist.

The doll's burlap skin was so dark that it looked black with a blood red 11 imprinted on its thigh. The right optic had a deep scratch, and the follower was almost jealous for at least this '11' still had two optics. The stare of the unknown doll was anything but friendly- parts evil and parts lechery when she approached.

They were too far away for him to truly hear anything, or see the flashes of her optics, but the message was clear. She took 11's wrist in her smaller hand and placed it on her middle, and there no more denying the presence of a bump there. 11 left his hand there for a moment, then ripped it from her light grasp and used it to slap the back across her face.

His inner workings stopped for a moment at the sight of her in pain, and he put his hands to his face, as if not seeing it could somehow stop it from happening. He heard the thumps of blows landing and each time he curled tighter into a ball, as if her pain was becoming his.

Suddenly, there was a small thunk that didn't sound like a blow and he quietly poked his head around the rock he'd been hiding behind. She was on the ground with 11 on top of her, pinning her arms and legs down so she couldn't struggle away.

This evoked a deep and primal emotion inside of him, making him charge out from his hiding place and yell, "Get away from her!"

11 looked up, then his look of surprise turned to one of malice. He returned his attention to the girl trapped under him, "I told you not to tell anyone!"

'I-I-' she flickered helplessly.

He slapped her again and rose, "I'll deal with you later, traitor. You, you must be the 5 I've heard so much about. So nice to finally meet you."

Sarcasm laced his words and that augmented 5's already considerable rage, "What have you done to 4?"

"Nothing that can't be undone," 11 said, flicking a glance back to 4, who had curled up in a shivering ball.

"You… You leave her alone!" 5 trembled, some of his rage turning to fear as he realized he had no idea what he was planning on doing.

"Who's gonna make me?" he asked tauntingly as he crossed back over to 4. "You?"

He kicked her savagely in the back, making her mouth open in a silent scream.

"You… YOU BASTARD!" 5 yelled at the sight of his beloved in such great pain. He charged recklessly at 11, blinded by rage, and knocked him back to the edge of the crevasse.

11 dug his heels in just before the edge and chuckled meanly, "And here I was under the impression you were the cowardly one."

5 snapped at hearing that last remark and with a final surge of strength shoved 11 over the edge. 5 saw him fall, a surprised look etched on his damaged face before the blackness swallowed him. The one-eyed doll sat back hard and stared at his hands as if they had somehow wronged him, as if it was them and not he who had sent 11 to his death. He curled his knees to his chest and trembled, unable to comprehend what he had just done. He had just… _Killed_ someone. A living creature.

He jumped when a hand was placed on his shoulder, but calmed a little when he saw that it was only 4. There were drag marks in the dirt saying she had crawled over and 5 worried if she could walk at all.

'Are you okay?' she flickered, and 5 smiled. It was so typical 4 to ask about him first.

"I… I don't think so. I just killed someone…"

'It's okay. He was bad. He said he would kill me if I told anyone about him.'

"Why didn't you just leave?" 5 asked.

'It-It didn't start out bad. He used to be nice, but then he started hurting me and…' She paused but 5's mind filled in the blank. 'I-I just kept telling myself it would get better, but it didn't. I wanted to tell you, but I didn't want any of you to get hurt. I'm just so ashamed of myself! I didn't want to get any of you involved."

"What about you?" he asked, gently wrapping an arm around her and pulling her close. "Are you okay?"

She understood his meaning and put her hand to her belly, 'I think so. I don't want to get rid of it 5! It's not its fault!'

"Shh, shh," 5 soothed, stroking her back gently. "No one's asking you to do that."

'Will you help me raise it, 5?' she begged. 'Please! I want it to think it has a respectable father, not… You know…'

5's face went warm at the implication, but nodded, "Sure, 4, I'll help you."

'Thank you, 5, you're the best.'

5 allowed himself to drink in the quiet moment between them, then asked, "Do you think you can walk?"

'I…I don't know. When he kicked my back I think he really messed it up.'

"Here," he stood and scooped her into his arms. "I'll carry you. When we get back 2 and I will fix you up again."

'We don't have to tell him, do we?' she asked. 'I-I don't want him to know…'

He kissed her forehead softly, "No, we don't have to tell him if you don't want to, but it's going to be hard to hide the baby."

'We have time, we can think of something. I just want to put this all behind me.'

"Okay," 5 said, hugging her close. "We'll save the badness for later. Right now let's just concentrate on getting you home and patched up."

She nodded and they began the trek home, both trying to leave 11's memory in the crevasse.

* * *

**There you go. I think I made 5 way OOC. Please, no flames. I tried really hard and I don't think I did well, but I hope it wasn't terrible.**

**Anyway, thank you for taking the time to read this, and I hope you have a wonderful day!**

**~FDK =^.^=**


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